A Habit Called Faith by Jen Pollock Michel
Habits play a central role in human behavior. They also play an important role in faith. In fact, habits can help lead us to faith as we learn to see, know, live, love, and obey.
In this episode, Jen Pollock Michel talks about her book A Habit Called Faith, and how we can use habits to awaken and deepen our faith.
Key Ideas
- Many habits are bodily practices. They help to inscribe faith at a deeper level than information.
- The habits of faith can help to unlock a backdoor into faith.
- We often wait for desire to lead us into action. Instead, we can use habits to lead us into desire.
- It’s better that we help people work through the more challenging passages of Scripture rather than avoiding them.
- Stories help us connect with truths in a deeper way.
- Immersing ourselves in Scripture helps us to see the world the way that God sees it.
- Reading Scripture is part of training ourselves to live the Christian life.
- Many parts of the Christian life aren’t instinctive or reflexive, which is why it’s necessary to cultivate habits of faith.
- You can follow a plan when reading Scripture, but you’re also free to let your curiosity and desire determine where you read.
- Bible reading is more than an individual discipline; it’s a communal practice.
- To build habits, start small.
- People need practical guidance to build habits like Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and confession.
- Instead of pursuing productivity, pursue fruitfulness.
Quotes
“Bodily motions and habits can inscribe faith far more deeply in us than just at the information level.”
“Habit can carry us through seasons of wilderness.”
“Just practice the motions of faith, and you might find that those motions almost open a backdoor into faith.”
“Faith is not a reflex. What is reflexive to us as human beings is desire for autonomy and self rule and life on our own terms. And so that’s why I feel like getting into the Bible is a really important habit.”
“What’s reflexive to human beings is this feeling that God could never love us, that we are so bad and so messed up and so screwed up that we’re beyond redemption. And that’s not the story that you find in Scripture.”
“Productivity is far more related to machines than it is to humans. The life of faith in Scripture is described as a fruitful life.”
Episode Links
Books mentioned:
- A Habit Called Faith: 40 Days in the Bible to Find and Follow Jesus
- Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith
- Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home
- Surprised by Paradox: Surprised by Paradox: The Promise of “And” in an Either-Or World
- The Divine Hours
- Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love for Us
Transcript
Download a PDF transcript of this episode.
